Timeless Love

Smokey Robinson

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 2006)
• Original Release Date: June 20, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New Door Records
• ASIN: B000FBFTE6
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,168 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Add Smokey Robinson to the list of sophisticated crooners sidestepping the race to rack up songwriter credits in favor of revisiting standards. Don't add him to the list of well-loved pop statesmen willing to let a team of backing musicians do the heavy lifting, though. With Timeless Love, Smokey situates himself in a candle-lit lounge of the mind: these may be other artists' songs, but he sketches in the details with the very stuff of his soul. Which, as anybody who's ever sung along to "The Tracks of My Tears" knows, is leagues more potent than most. Heart-stabbingly so. In Frank Sinatra's quite capable hands, for example, "Fly Me to the Moon" is a bawdy, puff-chested romp; in Smokey's it's a tender celebration of blinding love (ditto for "I've Got You Under My Skin"). Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time," meanwhile, becomes less brooding and more pleading as he ups the romantic balladeer quotient--there's something in the twists and turns of that gorgeous, trembling tenor. While Smokey, at 67, is still able to run vocal circles around many of the artists more closely associated with these numbers, it's with his own song, "I Love Your Face," that he threatens to do the most damage to the already weak-kneed. Couples in black tie might have been swirling around him as he recorded this disc: dim the lights and sway accordingly. --Tammy La Gorce

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Yester Love to Timeless Love: Priceless Smokey, June 23, 2006

By	Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Smokey Robinson really had a "hold on me" back in the day. Smokey Robinson was one of the pantheons of soul sensations that exploded onto the American music scene courtesy of Motown Records. Going to a Go Go, Second That Emotion, Tracks of My Tears, and Tears of a Clown were just a few of the hits that kept Smokey and the Miracles on top of the pop and soul charts in the 60s. Smokey's new CD, Timeless Love, is a look back but not to the 1960s. Rather, Smokey has gone back even further and put together of what may be called American standard love songs.

Other recording artists have tried this crossover before. Some, like Linda Ronstadt (What's New and Lush Life) and Willie Nelson (Stardust) have produced classics in their own right. Others, (Rod Stewart and Michael Bolton come to mind) have not been nearly as good in my opinion. Fortunately, Smokey has done exquisite justice to a group of wonderfully written love songs and has crafted a CD that can join Ronstadt and Nelson in my own must-have collection.

Smokey's choice of material is excellent. Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Jimmy Dorsey and Sammy Cahn are well represented here. He has not attempted to imitate those performers who have covered these songs before. Rather, he has stayed true to his own musical style and put his own imprint on them. At age 67 Smokey's range is still good and he can still hit the high notes I could never hit even when I was a boy soprano. Robinson shifts tempo and tone throughout the CD and those shifts create some surprising new takes on the songs. Robinson, for example, takes the temp down a notch in Our Love is Here to Stay and in doing so makes the song sound more intimate than I recall in earlier versions. He does something similar in Tea for Two, a song that I never particularly cared for in its upbeat (happier sounding) presentation and adds a layer of wistful longing that I haven't heard in earlier covers.

Although the orchestration here is excellent the centerpiece of the CD is Robinson's singing and the lyrics and music. This stands in some contrast to Ronstadt's Lush Life and What's New in which Nelson Riddle's arrangements shared center-stage with Ronstadt's vocal interpretations but both Ronstadt's and Robinson's choices in that regard resulted in a great performance.

So, if you are a fan of Smokey Robinson, a fan of classic standards, or simply want a CD that you put on when you want to put the lights down low and set a cozy romantic setting for a night in with your `significant other', Robinson's Timeless Love is as good a place to start as any other.

L. Fleisig

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Song is GREAT, June 22, 2006

By	K. Frazier "Calimusicman" (NJ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am so happy I bught this CD. As I was driving on my way home from buying this CD, I thought to myself I will just play a little from each track. Well The songs where done so well that I had to let each track Play all the way through. Now this is how you a CD of Standards! His voice is in GREAT range! The music arrangement are GREAT! If you want a mellow Jazzy CD this is one you must have. I can see this CD playing at a Wedding party. Pick it up you will love it too... THANK you Mr. Smokey!!!!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smokey Robinson At His Optimal Best, June 23, 2006

By	Sheila (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

The CD "Timeless Love" by Smokey Robinson is one of his best ever. The musical selections so a range of depth.I was totally unaware of his ability to show such emotional and vocal range. My personal favorite track is "Night and Day", a Cole Porter song. Fabulous work, Smokey! A Job very well done!